The present invention relates to a color picture image recording apparatus for recording a color picture image of an original on a recording medium. More particularly, the invention relates to a color picture image recording apparatus in which a color balance of a copy sheet can easily be adjusted.
A prior art recording apparatus of the type to which the present invention relates is disclosed in a co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 50,313 filed on May 14, 1987 by Sangyouji et al. This prior art apparatus is constructed so that the image carrying surface of an original is scanned and a light shielding image corresponding to a color picture image of the original is copied on an intermediary film made of a light transmissive material, and then a photosensitive and pressure-sensitive recording sheet is exposed through the intermediary film to form a latent image. This apparatus is advantageous in that time needed for copying the light shielding image on the intermediary film is shortened in comparison with an apparatus in which three primary color picture images are independently and separately copied one after another on the intermediary film to overlap with one another and exposure is taken place each time one of the three primary color images is copied. The prior art apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. patent application is further advantageous in that the exposure can be started before the entire light shielding image is copied on the intermediary film, hence a running time can be shortened. The prior art apparatus is also advantageous in that a highly precise positioning device is not required for exactly overlapping the three primary color images on the intermediary film.
However, in the photosensitive and pressure-sensitive recording sheet carrying pressure rupturable microcapsules each containing one of three primary colors of cyan, magenta and yellow, the radiation sensitivity of the microcapsules is not even but differs depending upon the colors. In addition, an exposure light source has variations in light radiation distribution. For the reasons stated above, the prior art color picture image recording apparatus is not satisfactory in that the color tone on the recording sheet is liable to be imbalanced and thus the apparatus is not suitable for a practical use.
Furthermore, preference of colors is different depending on the individual. It is therefore convenient if the color balance of the copy sheet can be adjusted depending on the preference of the user. Such an adjustment cannot be achieved in the above-described prior art apparatus.
In view of the foregoing, it has been proposed to adjust the color tone by a color correction filter. The filter is used to uniformly cover the surface of the original or the surface of the photosensitive recording sheet. With such a method, however, the color tone is not continuously adjustable and it is necessary to replace the color correction filter when a different color adjustment is desired.